The Community of Madrid has announced this Saturday that the tennis player Rafael Nadal will receive the Grand Cross of the Order of Dos de Mayo, with which the regional government it recognizes “the exemplary behaviors that have stood out in their service to the citizenry.”
The regional president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, will submit a report to the Community Governing Council to grant this honorary recognition to the tennis player, whose trajectory is loaded with “values and effort” that “we all need to remember so much now in this difficult situation” of pandemic.
This was announced by the president after visiting the municipalities of Guadalix de la Sierra and Patones de Abajo today, where he has explained that he will give the order to start the procedures for the award of the highest regional distinction.
Specifically, the decision will be approved at the next meeting of the regional government on Wednesday, November 18. The Grand Cross is granted by the Council of the Order, chaired by Díaz Ayuso and made up of the entire Government Council.
The athlete has 20 Grand Slam, being the only tennis player in history to lift the Roland Garros Musketeers Cup 13 times, according to the president for whom Nadal is “one of the best athletes in history, if not the best we have ever had.”
It is done, therefore, As a “sign of gratitude and recognition” for his person, Díaz Ayuso has indicated, who hopes to receive him at the Royal Post Office in a “short time” to be able to impose this “well-deserved award.” “It is a reason for satisfaction, pride and joy”, reiterated the president of the Community of Madrid.
Born in Manacor in 1986, Rafa Nadal is one of the best tennis players in history, having won 35 Master 1000 titles, 5 Davis Cups with Spain, and 2 gold medals in the Olympic Games (one in individual, in Beijing 2008, and another in doubles, in Rio de Janeiro 2016).
In addition, it has been 207 weeks occupying the number 1 in the world of the ATP ranking, recalls the Community in a statement.
Already in 2008 he received the I International Award of the Community of Madrid for his relevance in sport and his merits, not only in his profession but on the human side. That same year he won, precisely, the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports.
The Order of the Second of May has three degrees: Grand Cross, Commandery of Number and Cross, according to pre-eminence. It only has an honorary effect and does not imply any financial benefit.
It can be granted to natural and legal persons, and institutions, national and foreign, for acts or services relevant to citizens and in general for their contribution to political, economic, cultural, or social progress.
From the world of sport, the skier Francisco Fernández Ochoa received this recognition, posthumously; motorcycling world champion Ángel Nieto; the tennis player Manuel Santana; the cyclist Alberto Contador; the skater Javier Fernández; the basketball player Felipe Reyes, or the soccer coach Vicente del Bosque, among others.